I’m 28. I’ve worked allied health jobs in the hospital for the last 4 years. I’ve saved up a bit and have no dependents. I’ve grown to realize that there’s a lot about working in healthcare that I really do not enjoy in the slightest, but all my professional experience so far has been in this space. I was feeling weird about getting to the end of my 20s without a “real career” so I applied to school and got in. The program would teach me to give anesthesia in the operating room. The role pays very well, 200k for new grads to around 250k with a few years of experience. I’m motivated by money/security to some extent so I applied, also you can get 6-7 weeks of vacation and work 3-4 days a week (shift work) After having gotten in, I’m realizing that maybe the money isn’t worth it to me. School hasn’t even started yet and I’m consistently waking up feeling anxious and dreading the idea of having people’s lives in my hands or possibly making a mistake. It feels bad to pass up the opportunity, but I truly don’t see myself being happy working in the operating room and under that much life and death pressure. I feel “funneled” into school or an advanced degree in medicine because I don’t know how to pivot away. I’m spending my days crawling reddit and researching different careers. So I don’t know how to move on or feel happy. It feels “bad” to pass up this opportunity, but what else can I do? What should I do. Is there anyone here who can relate and found an escape? I know a better life is possible than what I am heading towards, and if I am smart enough to learn to give anesthesia I should be capable enough to find a way to work from home and make decent money, right? Or a non-wfh job that just isn’t stressful but still pays a living wage. Everyone says programming is saturated/will be automated.
4 comments
so, what else would you do if not this?
Have you tried seeing someone about the anxiety? Because maybe the job isn’t the problem dude. School hasn’t even started yet so you don’t even fully know what the job entails on a day to day basis.
As someone who works in tech and was diagnosed with anxiety, I can promise you that if anxiety is the core problem here, it’s gonna be the core problem in any other job.
I would go and figure that out first before making life changing decisions dude.
Hard to make 200k without stress and high responsibility.
What about looking into clinical research? Depending on the field and position, you may be fully remote, hybrid, or on-site.
If you want another stable, well-paying job in health care, I know I did look into becoming a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. Just look at slides all day, write reports, and manage the lab. You do need to finish the CLS program though. You could try looking into that as well.